It was great to see the kids for a full Target day! We had a marvelous day of learning!

Convergent, Algebraic, & Critical Thinking:Ours stations were filled with frogs again this week. We finished the last of our Frog vocabulary words and worked on two logic puzzles--one involving patterns, the other involving visual/spatial reasoning. Both were challenging! We also tried something new by putting our Hands On Equations work into the Station Rotation. It worked pretty well--giving my a chance to work in small groups with students at similar levels in order to give more individual attention.

Connections/Critical Thinking:The Frog Anatomy Quiz went quite well today! I could tell that most of the kids had spent enough time reviewing their frog anatomy diagrams to prepare. Good work! Any students needing a requiz can stop by any morning Friday-Wednesday) to try again! We're ready for our Dissection next week!

We also spent about an hour working on our Frog Research projects. The projects are due on May 6th. For details on the requirements, check the Frog Research Project Assignment on Edmodo. For project ideas, check the Frog Glog.

Connections/Evaluative Thinking:We listened to a storyteller share Mark Twain's famous short story, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calavares County". The kids tried to identify tall tale elements from the story: humor, hyperbole, and a hero. The language was kind of tough, but it was a good connection between a literature classic and our Frog unit!

Divergent and Critical Thinking:We learned about Visual Notetaking-"Sketchnoting". Here is one of our new resources for capturing our learning in notes:

Well, Target was short and sweet today! Since the first day of Georgia Milestones ran longer than expected, we didn't get to see the kids until 12:30. We wasted no time in getting to our main task--LEARNING FROG ANATOMY!

The kids brought home labeled Frog Anatomy charts to study for the quiz next week. They will have a word bank with names for all parts. We're shooting for 80% mastery on this quiz. Any students who don't make it on the first try can retake the quiz the next day or any day until April 29th, which is Dissection Day. We'll offer as many retakes as needed. When I taught this unit last year, we only had about 7 kids out of fourth & fifth grade who needed a retake. All of those kids made it the second time. I'm not at all worried. A little bit of review each day, and they'll be just fine for the quiz next week!

Check out the Target Glog for Frog Anatomy resources and a couple of great Dissection videos.

Critical Thinking:Our stations were all about the frogs today! We continued frog vocabulary words. We worked our brains hard with a Frog Leap number puzzle and a tough frog Logic puzzle.

Divergent Thinking:We stretched our creative muscles with an April F2OE--all things hoppy, bunnies, and umbrellas! Creativity abounds with these kiddos!

Unit Study:We decided on our areas of research: Habitat, Appearance, Life Span, Diet, and Fun Extra Facts. We had a productive time in the Computer Lab research our frogs. Projects will be due the week of May 4th. We will have time each week to work on projects in class.

Algebraic Thinking:We 're moving right along on our Hands On Equations!